Reason
by Saxima
Summary: Sometimes, Uchiha Sasuke wonders why he goes on every morning.


**Saxima Says:** So for those of you who have been following me, you might pick up that this is a re-written story.  
The first one had so many mistakes that it made me cringe, and it would have been a crime for me to just leave it there, all shitty like it was.

( Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. )

* * *

**Reason**

When I open my eyes to look at my wooden ceiling, I always think the same thing to myself: why bother waking up in the morning? My house is empty – the whole Uchiha district is empty. It's quiet; so quite that I could hear a pin drop from the other side.

As I get out of bed, I sigh, deciding to be productive, so I walk into the kitchen. It's empty, just like the rest of my silent house; no mother to greet me with breakfast, no father sitting at the table reading the newspaper and drinking tea. All I find, instead of what I should find, is an unoccupied kitchen. Like usual, I'm alone.

Over the years, I've gotten used to it, the silence. That does tend to happen when it's your constant companion for many years. In the beginning, it just feels like your world is ending every day you lie down, and by the fourth day, you wonder why you're not dead yet. If you survive those days, the long and dragging house of screaming silence, then you come to realize that you can make it through a week, a month, a year. The silence becomes music, and you see it that way. That's how it became for me, anyway.

I have a brother, and his name is Uchiha Itachi - but . . . wait a moment, "Sasuke, you have no family, didn't you say that?" Actually, I didn't say that, but thank you for shoving those words into my mouth. Itachi isn't here anymore, and has no right to be; he's the reason that I have no family left. He's the reason I'm the sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan. Not to mention, he's a part of the reason I do get up every morning - part of the reason I move forward.

My name is Uchiha Sasuke and every morning, I wonder why I wake up. I wonder how I even finish each day. It sounds very angst-like, I know, and that's the sort of reputation that I've earned throughout the village; the silent bad-boy who is independent and needs no one. I'm not deaf, though most people around me will talk as if I am; I hear the whispers about me. They call me all sorts of things out of praise: I'm a genius, albeit a silent one, they say I could be Hokage one day, I've heard that I'll be a great leader, it's all been said. I ignore them, for a despise gossip, and don't appreciate their praise. There's one particular thing that they say that irks me the most: I have been met with a terrible, horrible fate - one that is worse than all of them: being an orphan from a previously flourishing and powerful clan.

_"But Sasuke, isn't that a terrible fate?" _

I suppose it is, but I get along just fine, because I know there are other people in this village that have it much worse than I do. I know better than to complain. In fact, I hardly think I have a right to complain about anything at all; the village loves me, but the public is fickle.

There's this one kid that's on the same team as I am, Team Seven. Team Seven consists of me, the quiet one, him, the loud one, our other teammate, a girl, and then our sensei, the perverted one. It's been about a year since we became a squad, and there's been a lot that's happened since then. Although I'd never admit it, they've become closer to me than anyone else has, but I guess that was pretty inevitable, since we spend a lot of time together.

_"Aw, Sasuke, I didn't know you cared so much."_

Yeah, well, now you do. Don't push it.

Haruno Sakura is the girl on our team. She's a smart one, but gets on my nerves pretty easily; I'll be honest, I have no idea why she's so infatuated with me when I constantly turn her away. It used to be that I barely tolerated her, but now that we've grown closer as friends, I think I understand her a little better. Regardless, she's seriously got to get over me because I'm not going with her anywhere fast.

Our sensei, my sensei, is Hatake Kakashi. The guy's "super cool and mysterious" attitude seriously used to piss me off, but now I see that he's not such a bad guy. He's personally trained me, and I know that he wants what's best for all of his students. I wouldn't tell him that though. The guy's always got his nose poked in one of those ridiculous books he reads, and then there's his habit of coming up with terrible, lame excuses for why he's late to our training sessions or our missions.

Then there's this guy, Uzumaki Naruto. He's a complete idiot. I always asked myself "What kind of shinobi wears the color orange?", but I never asked him. He'd probably go on some kind of rant about it, taking complete shots in the dark and using broken logic to back himself. The guy can talk when he wants to. According to him, we're rivals. I guess I can agree with him there; he's always trying to best me, and I'm doing the same. We can make a contest out of basically anything, and I mean anything. Honestly, the guy's a real loser - but he's a strong loser; he pushes my limits, sometimes makes me use everything I've got in a match against him, and sometimes, to my chagrin and surprise, he anticipates my moves. With every passing day, I know that guy is getting stronger.

But . . . Regardless of what I think, at the end of the day, I can always hear him mumbling to himself about how he can never beat me. I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean for me to hear him say these things, but inside, I can tell he's discouraged, I'm just not sure how that translates to him becoming more motivated. What he doesn't know, what I'll never tell him, is that yeah, every training session, every spar, every win I've got over him, he tops me. And sometimes, I don't really mind that.

_"Silly Sasuke, you're about as sarcastic as they get. Do you really mean any of this?"_

This is an introspective narrative, you idiot. Do you know what that means? That means I'm telling a narrative from my thoughts that have a flow. I can't really lie inside my mind. I'm serious, here.

Naruto is the bright one, the happy one; he's so distracted all of the time. I don't know what it is that makes that guy so damn happy. Every single day, he mentions something about either becoming Hokage, or being the best shinobi in the world. Let me tell you, it gets pretty damn annoying, but it's become a part of my life. Who knows, he just might live up to all of that talk he does.

Maybe you could call it something that I look forward to, everyday. Maybe. I'm not so sure if I'd call it that, so I'll just say that it's a part of my daily routine.

I slide open my closet and pick out a navy blue shirt and white knee-length shorts from the drawer. At one point, I had wore a black body suit, but it became annoying to put on and manage after a while, so I merely stopped wearing it. Naruto once told me, and I'm sure he did it subconsciously, that he was jealous that I could 'pull of an outfit' like that. I can't be sure what he meant, and I sure wasn't going to ask him, but I decided that the outfit couldn't be that bad, and I wore it for a little while.

After I slip on my zori, and tie on my headband protector, and I walk out of my house.

Empty streets, and I expect nothing else. In the beginning, I hoped that I was only hallucinating, that it was all just a bad dream. The days went by, and it was the worse thing I had to endure, and the only thing that was worse was knowing I would have to do it for the rest of my life. A life sentenced to screaming silence.

. . . Or so I thought.

As I walk out of the main entrance to the district, I thought about how the silence that had made itself comfortable around my heart, mind, and soul was dispelled every time I met up with the hyperactive idiot that was my teammate. Heh, I could never hope to achieve inner peace with that idiot around. What a strange sensation it was - _is_; forget having me explain it, I barely understand it myself. The guy just blew it all way without even knowing it. He gets my heart pumping, my blood flowing, I guess I can feel more . . . alive around him.

Here I am, going at a start, living another day. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I do it - forget that, I wonder _how_ I do it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not be an 'emo' as I am so much called, though not in spite, and I am _not_ feeling sorry for myself. People who feel sorry for themselves disgust me.

I walk down the road to our usual meeting spot and I'm avoiding all eyes that turn to me. No one says anything to me, no one whispers anything about me, but they don't have to. I'm not a mind-reader, and I don't praise myself to be one, but they're all thinking what they're not saying about me. To hell with what they think of me, the fucks that I don't give about it are all over the place. It's not just the whispers and talk about me that I ignore, but it's the ones about Naruto, too. Regardless of the guy pretty much saving the village, there are still some ungrateful assholes walking around and still treating him like an outsider, like he's not human. I mean, seriously, even I'm not that much of an ass.

In my opinion, Naruto, despite the guy being a total loser and idiot, is a good kid. He sure as hell doesn't know how to give up, and he's like a damned broken record, talking about the same things everyday that he's aiming for, that he's working towards. Still . . . I think somewhere deep inside me - and I mean really, _really_ deep, I appreciate him; I thank some higher entity every dead for his presence. I'dunno. It's strange to me, for me, and it would be to other people, too, considering I "hate" him.

I'm almost to the bridge where we usually meet up. There's Sakura, leaning over the railing, watching the river flow by. She always gets here before either of us. Probably wants time to collect her thoughts on her next tactic on trying to get me to go on a date with her. Like usual, I'll say no. She doesn't know how to give up either, but to me, her persistence is worse than Naruto's. You'd think after all of this time, she'd pick up the cue that I don't want to date her or have any romantic relations with her, I'm just not really for that now.

So as it stands, I don't know if I want to go and greet her, or not. I actually really don't want to, but with my thoughts, a few moments pass and I can sense Naruto's chakra approaching. He's coming toward the opposite side of the bridge. Past Sakura. I shake my head, and sigh to myself; the things I do . . . It's not so bad moving past her, and I'm almost home free, but then I hear my name and sigh once more.

"Sasuke-kun!" she squeals, and though it's not unexpected, it's still as aggravating. Not to mention it leaves a little ring in my ears. Deciding that it's better to move on, I press on past her, and she's oblivious to the fact that I'm ignoring her. I'm not sure she'll ever pick up the notice that I'm not interested - it almost makes me feel bad for her.

"I bet you anything that Kakashi-sensei is going to be really late again!" she tells me, unaware that I know this and really could care less. "What do you think, Sasuke-kun?"

But I don't answer because I'm busy focusing on Naruto's chakra which, if I'm right, he's going to step on the bridge . . . _now_.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" comes his naturally raspy, yet bright and clear voice. Like music to my ears.

I breath out - I hadn't even realized that I'd been holding my breath this whole time. I feel like a small weight has been lifted from my shoulder. That's enough to brighten my day any time. I know now that I can make it through another day, I have reasons for, and they're not just because of my older brother. Now that I can hear Naruto talking, I just . . . kinda know that I can make it through another day. I mean, if he can, then I can because I won't be outdone by a guy like him.

His bright blue eyes turn to me, " 'Morning, teme!" he says enthusiastically, and I can tell that he doesn't mean the insult.

"Good morning, dobe." I reply to him evenly. I realize that this happens every morning; so often, in fact, that it's become a part of my routine. It's something I expect, something familiar . . .

I decide that I'm able to go on, today.

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Thanks for reading this rewrite. I stayed up late last night because inspirations usually happen at 3:00am.


End file.
